Current Fishing Report

 Had a good time with Tom and Derek fishing Hat Creek and the Pit. Lot of Trico's hatching. Derek got the first day fish of the day (one of his first on a fly rod)! 

My annual trip to British Columbia this year was as fun and eventful as always.  The theme this year was high water for the most part, as some biblical rain storms pummeled the region.  The mega storm arived just when Andrew Harris joined my group at Skeena Spey Lodge.  The storm was truly exceptional, blowing out bridges and necessating helicoptor rescue for some unfortunate campers on nearby rivers.  Drew and I did some epic recon to a remote part of a skeena tributarty to make the best of a blown water day.  Its always a pleasure getting to fish and spend time with Andrew, our fearless leader.  When conditons were fishable, we hooked, landed, and lost some truly epic steelhead and bright Northern Coho.  I saw Leslie Ajari catch her first giant BC fish on a skated dry fly on a river with just a foot of visibility.  Hard core angler and trip regular Doug Rohn seemed to hook fish every day of his trip, regardles of conditions.  Ted always seems to hook a monster or two, some make it to the net, some don't!  Dennis is always a pleasure to watch speycast, cover water, and spend time with on and off the water.  Just a super group of guys.  Next year I have another few prime weeks at Skeena Spey with a spot or two open for likeminded anglers who appreciate the pursuit of BC steelhead on a spey rod with our crew at the best lodge in British Columbia .  Contact me for details and availibility.For a sense of what BC is like, check out a little video I made at https://youtu.be/19vsZIhnBGU

The Skeena River valley is one of the most beautiful in North America

Leslie with a mega steelhead on that ate a skated dry

Throwing some tight loops with the orange Rio Scandi

The Skeena is know as the River of Mist

Doug with one of his epic fish of the trip

The Kalum is one of my favorite lower Skeena tributaries

Bodie waiting for some action

a view of the river on Andrew's first day, looks a little off color...

I had a freind and colleague visiting this weekend to swing flies here on the Upper Rogue.  We enjoyed our days here cruising down the river with fall colors popping and very little angling pressure (fly only season on the Upper Rogue).  Kayla swung up an epic wild hen, and we had multiple other aggressive fish crush our swung flies swinging both skagit heads with MOW tips and scandi set ups with floating lines.  The Rogue has been a good bet this year....  

Here are a couple photos from Peter Santley's trip on the Trinity River yesterday.  Peter says steelhead fishing is good and that the river has changed a lot since last season.  Nice fish Jeff!

Jeff with a Trinity steelhead

fish on!

Had a great swing trip with Christian and Michael. The fall colors are just starting to emerge and the Rogue is fishing awesome. The morning started off a bit slow with a few half pounders, but as the day continued, the fishing improved. We ended up hooking up with 4 adults by the end of the day. 

The conditions on the Lower Klamath as are as good as they get right now, the HUGE flows of last Winter have rejuvenated and altered many of the Swing Runs for the better and water quality is good as it gets . The past couple of months the river has seen fresh pushes of adult and 1/2 pounder Steelhead, the numbers don't appear to be huge...but they're there !Angler pressure has been low which at times can lead to some pretty darn good fishing as well as a Great overall angling experience, over the past week we have hooked into, and landed some... Chrome Bright Adult Steelhead and 1/2 pounders as well as Dime Bright Kings, just the right size for a 6 weight Spey Rod.If you are an avid Spey Caster and have never been, you should highly consider a trip to the Lower Klamath, there might be different water elswhere but I would argue that there is no better water !.... and if your a novice or just want to try out Spey casting and Swinging for Steelhead, this is an excelent venue for that as well.My schedule is limited this year but I do still have some available dates...and it's not too soon to plan for next Season , I'll be on the Lower Klamath from early Sept to late October 

Just another Epic Tailout....

A very cool gathering t is happening this weekend!  This has become the premier spey casting event in the Southern Oregon/Nor Cal region.  From our friends at Ashland Fly Shop:It’s time for the 3rd annual Rogue on the Fly! Held at Indian May Park on the Rogue River, ROTF is bigger and better than ever! A weekend long event, ROTF includes Spey casting presentations from some of our region’s experts, booth presentations from our products reps, fly-fishing games, fly-tying demos, great food, live music, camping, and more! Leslie Ajari and I will be doing a presentation with a very, very special guest on Sunday called "Make Your Casting Great Again".  When: Saturday, September 23 and Sunday, September 24Where: Indian Mary ParkCost: Free!Steelhead fishing on the Upper Rogue has been pretty good, and should only get better over the coming weeks.  Leslie and I are now available to guide these next few prime weeks before we head to the Grande Ronde next month.   

Doug's fish lives in BC, I just wanted to get your attention

Another annual "girls trip" is in the books.  The Sac has fished tough this summer, but I expect fishing to improve as the days continue to cool.  Fishing was fairly consistent all the way to Anderson.  Both hooked into some really large fish, as well as a number of "cookie cutter" fish.  The flows have been at 9,000 CFS for a few weeks now, but I expect them to start dropping again very soon.  We are closing in on October and that means the "egg bite" is right around the corner.  My schedule is filling fast, so now is the time to book your fall float on the Sac.   

 Had an amazing time exploring BC with Dax for a few weeks. The rivers are all wild and undammed, and the fish are like any other steelhead I've caught in my entire life. Definetly the big leagues and land of giants for a swing angler. The scenery was also breathtaking. I'm looking at putting together a hosted trip for next fall, so please feel free to reach out with interest or questions. 

Early mornings make for spectacular scenery

There is always a chance for rain and a river blowout....

First BC fish was dime bright and fiesty.

Occasionally you get a Coho too.

The Rogue river has seen great numbers for steelhead returns this year. I've been out in the evenings for a few hours at a time and have been swinging into some nice chrome. The recent smoke from all the fires in NorCal and Oregon has finally cleared out as well, so the air quality is very much improved. September is a iconic month for swinging flies on the upper Rogue, usually fishing a leader and a traditional fly. If you're looking for good steelhead conditions, the Rogue is where it's at. 

My wife Dava had been interested in learning to spey cast, so I took the smart approach and signed her up for Confluence Outfitter's Spey Camp.  I came along to audit the class so I could better work with my clients during our swing trips - and so I could actually fish on my own for four days!  I brought my jet boat and was able to learn some great swing runs on the lower Klamath.  We will be going back!Gino, Dax, and Leslie did an incredible job and the property is absolutely beautiful!  The food was AMAZING!  I think we both may have gained a pound or two. The course of instruction was loosely structured (no set times), but very effective in the end.  Gino, Dax, and Leslie were able to provide each of the students with a lot of one-on-one instruction throughout the four days.  The Spey Camps are timed around the famed half-pounder run on the Klamath and everyone hooked into fish, some hooked into several!If you have ever wanted to learn to spey cast, or even if you have some experience casting a two-handed rod - I would highly recommend attending next year's Spey Camps! This is great experience if you want to go with a group of buddies, or simply go by yourself.  The friendships Dava and I made during Spey Camp will be long lasting! 

I had the opportunity to guide Carl and Buck from Ventura today.  They began their road trip fishing the famed Green River for two days, and decided to finish it off floating the Lower Sac.  The fish were not super grabby, but both managed to hook fish pretty consistently throughout the day.  The good news is the egg bite is right around the corner AND these crazy hot temps we've been dealing with all summer should start to drop this week!

Check out Ashland Fly Shop's new "Spey Fishing with Jon" video installment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJf74AnyYAs. Jon Hazlett and Andrew Harris swing for trout on the Lower Sac and talk trout spey gear and technique.  If you're interested in trout spey on the Lower Sac, this video will answer a lot of questions you may have.

What does a professional drone pilot do on his day off you might ask? Go fishing of course! Matt came up from Santa Barbara to help map the Lower Sac for salmon habitat (and a lot of other cool scientific that will help our local fisheries). We had pretty good luck working the side channels throwing small nymphs. Temps under 100° always help too! 

I guided the Ah-Di-Na area of the McCloud today.  It's a long drive down to the campground and it was plenty HOT, so the cold water felt really good!  All the guys hooked into multiple fish in the 6-10 inch range fishing nymphs.  The McCloud is a beautiful river and in my opinion, a "bucket-list" river for any fly angler.

Katie and I are hosting a trip to El Pescador Lodge in Belize in April of 2019.  We reserved a 4 night/3 day trip during the middle of prime-time. At El Pescador you can achieve the fly anglers' ultimate dream - a Grand Slam of bonefish, tarpon and permit. Belize's shallow water contains the only classic tarpon flats outside South Florida. Their flats are world renowned for offering the opportunity to sight cast to tarpon 12 months a year. This trip will be a great fit for couples with non-angling partners as well as solo anglers. The lodge has many non-angling activities available, including swimming, kayaking, bicycling, massages, SCUBA, snorkeling, cave tubing, jungle river cruises, mainland excursions, and more! We have reserved this 4 night/3 day trip at 2017 rates: $2585/angler or $1685/non-angler.  April 23-27, 2019. 

Today was my second day fishing Dave from SoCal and we opted for a striper trip on the Lower Lower Sac.  Fishing was challenging with high winds all day, but Dave managed to land his first striper ever right off the bat.  No big fish today, but we had some action on schoolies and a few pikeminnows.  With all the wind I had to use my A (anchor) button on my Minn Kota remote control a lot today!

Dave with his first striper ever

My client Dave and I spent the second half of our day on our private beat on North Battle Creek.  It was my first time in there this year and I was amazed to see the changes caused by last winter's high water.  Some of my favorite spots were totally remodelled.  Lots of downed trees, too.  The fishing was good, though!  Dave's first fish was a 12" rainbow, which is about the biggest fish we ever catch on this section.  Dave had a blast with his 3wt rod and miraculously did not lose a single fly in a tree!  We fished dries all afternoon and had the best luck with size 8 grasshopper imitations.

This fish chowed a big grasshopper dry

Dave with the best fish of the afternoon

killer mayfly. Mahogany? Anyone?

I did a morning half-day on the Lower Sac today and fishing was good.  There were some very small mayflies around in the morning, but most of our fish were landed on stonefly nymphs.  Fishing pressure is pretty light below Anderson.  My client Dave landed a few nice fish in the 12-15" range and we had a lot of action on small fish, too.  I talked to some salmon fishermen who limited out today, so that was encouraging.

The road to Ah-Di-Na will be closed for construction on Sept 13/14.  For more information, call the Shasta-Trinity National Forest McCloud ranger station at 530-964-2184.